Cross-Cuts

Joel Shapiro and Richard Nonas are two sculptors who emerged during the early 1970s in New York City, as pioneers of non-traditional sculptural installation. Both artists are now internationally recognized, with work in private and public collections. They have made significant contributions to our understanding of space, scale, and structure, and Clocktower Productions is proud to have them on view in the magnificent Knockdown Center space. Exhibition on view at Knockdown Center Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 6 pm, or by appointment. Knockdown Center 52-19 Flushing Ave Maspeth, NY 11378 Call (212) 233-1096 (Clocktower) or (347) 915-5615 (Knockdown).

Join Clocktower for the opening of Cross-Cuts, an exhibition presented at Knockdown Center on Sunday, May 11th, 2014, from 2-6pm. Preview 2-6pm on Saturday, May 10th. Special transport for both days: shuttle from the Jefferson stop on the L train. Free and open to the public.
Joel Shapiro and Richard Nonas are two sculptors who emerged during the early 1970s in New York City, as pioneers of non-traditional sculptural installation. Both artists are now internationally recognized, with work in private and public collections. They have made significant contributions to our understanding of space, scale, and structure, and Clocktower Productions is proud to have them on view in the magnificent Knockdown Center space.

A group exhibition in which six installation artists engage a space beckoning with desire and opportunity. Knockdown Center's cathedral-like complex, with its breathtaking expanse, mysterious sub-chambers, surprise annexes, and hidden pockets, is a dream environment for site-specific and installation art. In addition, these works incorporate dynamic and time-based elements ranging from robotic interactivity to performance events to social intervention. Taken together, the architecture and the artworks transform the space into a surreal bazaar of curiosities for the adventurous. Opening June 15th, from 2-6pm. Special artist talk/tour at 5pm. The exhibition is open every Saturday and Sunday, from June 15 to July 6, 2-6pm. Click HERE to find out about the July 5th Performance Festival!

A reading by the artist Richard Nonas that took place on site during the Spring 2014 exhibit Cross-Cuts, curated by Clocktower Productions at Knockdown Center in Queens and featuring sculpture by Nonas and Joel Shapiro. The text, written by Nonas, is displayed below.
Richard Nonas' work is on view September 10-Oct. 25, 2014 at Fergus McCaffrey, New York.
"Richard Nonas turned to sculpture at the age of thirty, after abandoning a budding career in anthropology. Fieldwork in Mexico, Canada, and the American Southwest had left him deeply troubled about some of the methodologies used in ethnographic studies, and he also found it difficult to engage in “activity structured to end in conclusion.” But his anthropological work was a crucial early influence on his sculptural practice, fostering a deep curiosity about how experience shapes perception of space. Nonas turned to art in the mid-1960s and soon began making work that referenced the then-current sculptural idioms of Earth Art, which focused on alteration of the landscape, and Minimalism, whose formal concerns included geometry and repetition." (excerpted from a Walker Art Center catalog)
Why art needs strong architecture to push against.

Sculptor Richard Nonas tells the creation story of what eventually became the Clocktower Gallery. It was the 1970s, and a group of penniless, frustrated artists were desperate to show their work. But back then, no money meant no gallery space. So an intrepid young woman named Alanna Heiss decided to take matters into her own hands. She started a search for a new kind of place to show art. What she found was a junk-filled, fire-damaged basement with no electricity. Hear how Nonas and Heiss transformed the space and, by doing so, transformed the art world.
(11 minutes)